Microsoft Tests 0.5-inch Smiley-Face Picco Desktop Screen

A miniature display just 0.5 of an inch across is being designed by Microsoft, which sees its Picco device as a animated beacon that's able to display status updates, messages and drawings of genitals from friends.

The mini display was spotted in a Microsoft research paper called "A Small Space for Playful Messaging in the Workplace: Designing and Deploying Picco," in which the miniature 52 x 36 resolution device is described as being a "a tiny situated display for drawings and simple animations" able to broadcast animated pictures created on an accompanying app.

Encouraging "play and banter" in the workplace is the aim. Microsoft ought to get it on Kickstarter, as it's the sort of thing tech enthusiasts with money to burn might find cute for a good five minutes. [The Register]